Namyeombujuji — The Southern Land of Fire南炎浮州志
成化初，慶州有朴生者，以儒業自勉。常補大學館，不得登一試，常怏怏有憾，而意氣高邁，見勢不屈，人以爲驕俠。然對人接話，淳愿慤厚，一鄕稱之。
In the early years of Chenghua (成化) there was in Gyeongju a man called Scholar Bak (朴生). He took Confucian learning as his work and drove himself at it. He was always enrolled in the National Academy, but he never once passed the examination, and he always carried a rueful and bitter heart. Yet his will and his spirit were high and far, and he did not bend before power, so people called him proud and headstrong. But when he faced a man and spoke with him he was plain, trustworthy, and generous, and the whole district praised him.
生嘗疑浮屠巫覡鬼神之說，猶豫未決，旣而質之中庸，參之易辭，自負不疑。而以淳厚，故與浮屠交，如韓之顚，柳之巽者，不過二三人。浮屠亦以文士交，如遠之宗雷，遁之王謝，爲莫逆友。
Scholar Bak had once doubted the words about the Buddha, about shamans, and about ghosts and spirits, and he hung back and could not settle it. Then he put the question to the Doctrine of the Mean and measured it against the words of the Book of Changes, and he trusted himself and doubted no longer. Yet because he was mild and generous he kept company with those who followed the Buddha as well. Such were Taidian (太顚) to Han Yu and the monk Xun (巽) to Liu Zongyuan, and there were no more than two or three of them. Those who followed the Buddha also kept company with him as a man of letters, as Zong Bing and Lei Cizong were to Huiyuan (慧遠) and Wang Xizhi and Xie An to Zhidun (支遁), and they became friends past all estrangement.
一日，因浮屠，問天堂地獄之說，復疑云：「天地一陰陽耳。那有天地之外，更有天地？必詖辭也。」問之浮屠，浮屠亦不能決答，而以罪福響應之說答之，生亦不能心服也。
One day, through one who followed the Buddha, he asked about the words on heaven and hell, and he doubted again and said, "Heaven and earth are one yin and yang, and no more. How should there be another heaven and earth outside heaven and earth? These must be crooked words."
He asked one who followed the Buddha, and he too could not answer and settle it, and he answered with the words that guilt and blessing come back like an echo. Scholar Bak could not assent to that in his heart either.
常著一理論，以自警，蓋不爲他岐所惑。
He wrote a piece called the Discourse on the One Principle (一理論) to warn himself, for he did not wish to be led astray onto other paths.
其略曰：「常聞天下之理，一而已矣。一者何？無二致也。理者何？性而已矣。性者何？天之所命也。天以陰陽五行，化生萬物，氣以成形，理亦賦焉。所謂理者，於日用事物上，各有條理，語父子則極其親，語君臣則極其義，以至夫婦長幼，莫不各有當行之路，是則所謂道而理之具於吾心者也。循其理，則無適而不安，逆其理而拂性，則菑逮。窮理盡性，究此者也。格物致知，格此者也。蓋人之生，莫不有是心，亦莫不具是性，而天下之物，亦莫不有是理。以心之虛靈，循性之固然，卽物而窮理，因事而推源，以求至乎其極，則天下之理，無不著現明顯，而理之至極者，莫不森於方寸之內矣。以是而推之，天下國家，無不包括，無不該合，參諸天地而不悖，質諸鬼神而不惑，歷之古今而不墜，儒者之事，止於此而已矣。天下豈有二理哉？彼異端之說，吾不足信也。」
The gist of it said:
"I have heard that the principle of all under heaven is one, and no more. What is the one? It is that there are not two ways. What is principle? It is nature, and no more. What is nature? It is what Heaven decrees.
Heaven makes the ten thousand things live by yin and yang and the five phases. Breath forms the shape, and principle too is given with it. What is called principle has its own order in each of the affairs and things of daily use. Speak of father and son, and it is the utmost of closeness. Speak of ruler and subject, and it is the utmost of right. Down to husband and wife, elder and younger, there is none without its own road to walk. This is what is called the Way, and it is principle set within my own heart.
Follow that principle, and there is nowhere a man goes that is not at peace. Go against that principle and cross one's nature, and disaster comes. To fathom principle and fulfill nature is to fathom this. To go to things and reach knowledge is to go to this.
No man is born without this heart, and none is without this nature, and no thing under heaven is without this principle. With the empty brightness of the heart, follow nature as it is of itself. Go to things and fathom their principle, trace affairs back to their source, and seek to reach the utmost. Then no principle under heaven is left unshown and unclear, and nothing of the utmost of principle fails to stand thick within the square inch of the heart.
Push this outward, and all under heaven, the state and the house, is wrapped in it and fits it. Measure it against heaven and earth, and it is not awry. Ask it of the ghosts and spirits, and it does not go astray. Pass it through old times and now, and it does not fall. The work of the Confucian scholar stops here, and no more. How should there be two principles under heaven? Those words of the other paths are not worth my believing."
一日，於所居室中，夜挑燈讀易，支枕假寐，忽到一國，乃洋海中一島嶼也。其地無草木沙礫，所履非銅則鐵也。晝則烈焰亘天，大地融冶，夜則凄風自西，砭人肌骨，吒波不勝。又有鐵崖如城，緣于海濱，只有一鐵門，宏壯，關鍵甚固。守門者，喙牙獰惡，執戈鎚以防外物。其中居民，以鐵爲室，晝則焦爛，夜則凍烈，唯朝暮蠢蠢，似有笑語之狀，而亦不甚苦也。生驚愕逡巡，守門者喚之。生遑遽不能違命，踧踖而進。
One day, in the room where he lived, he trimmed the lamp at night and read the Book of Changes. He propped his head on a pillow and dozed a while, and suddenly he came to a country. It was an island in the great sea.
In that land there were no grasses and trees, no sand and gravel. What he trod on was copper, or else iron. By day fierce flames stretched across the sky and the great earth seemed to melt and run. By night a bleak wind came from the west and pierced a man's flesh and bone past bearing.
There was also an iron cliff like a city wall that ran along the shore. There was only one iron gate, huge and grand, and its bar was very firm. The gatekeeper's beak and teeth were fierce and cruel, and he held a spear and an iron mace and kept off whatever came from outside.
The people who lived inside made their houses of iron. By day they were scorched and blistered, by night they were frozen and bitter. Only at morning and evening did they stir, and they seemed to laugh and talk, and they did not suffer greatly either.
Scholar Bak was startled and hung back, and the gatekeeper called to him. In his fluster he could not disobey, and he went forward with care.
守門者，竪戈而問曰：「子何如人也？」
The gatekeeper stood his spear upright and asked, "What kind of man are you?"
生慄且答曰：「某國某土某，一介迂儒，干冒靈官，罪當寬宥，法當矜恕！」
Scholar Bak trembled and answered, "So-and-so, of such a place in such a country, is one scholar who knows nothing of the world. I have trespassed on a divine officer. My guilt should be generously pardoned, and the law should be merciful to me."
拜伏再三，且謝搪突([扌+突])。
He bowed low two or three times, and he begged pardon for blundering in.
守門者曰：「爲儒者，當逢威不屈，何磬折之如是？吾儕欲見識理君子久矣。我王亦欲見如君者，以一語傳白于東方。少坐！吾將告子于王。」
The gatekeeper said, "One who is a Confucian should meet awe and not bend. Why do you fold yourself down like this? We have long wished to see a gentleman who knows principle. Our king too wishes to see a man like you, and to send one word to the East. Sit a while. I shall announce you to the king."
言訖，趨蹌而入，俄然出語曰：「王欲延子於便殿！子當以訏言對，不可以威厲諱，使我國人民，得聞大道之要！」
When he had spoken he hurried in with short steps, and presently he came out and said, "The king would receive you in the inner hall. You must answer with great words. Do not hide them because his awe is stern. Let the people of our country hear the heart of the great Way."
有黑衣白衣二童，手把文卷而出，一黑質靑字，一白質朱字，張于生之左右以示之。生見朱字，有名姓，曰：「現住某國朴某，今生無罪，當不爲此國民。」
Two boys came out, one in black clothes and one in white, and they held documents in their hands. One was black ground with blue letters, and one was white ground with red letters, and they spread them to the left and right of Scholar Bak and showed them. Scholar Bak looked at the red letters, and his surname and his name stood there. It said, "Bak So-and-so, now living in such a country, has no guilt in this life, and shall not become a subject of this land."
生問曰：「示不肖以文卷，何也？」
Scholar Bak asked, "Why do you show these documents to one so unworthy?"
童曰：「黑質者，惡簿也。白質者，善簿也。在善簿者，王當以聘士禮迎之，在惡簿者，雖不加罪，以民隸例勑之。王若見生，禮當詳悉。」
The boy said, "The black ground is the register of evil. The white ground is the register of good. One who is in the register of good, the king receives with the rites for welcoming a scholar. One who is in the register of evil, he does not charge with further guilt, but he orders him after the manner of a commoner or a bondsman. If the king sees you, sir, his rites will be full and careful."
言訖，持簿而入。須臾飆輪寶車，上施蓮座，嬌童彩女，執拂擎盖，武隸邏卒，揮戈喝道。生擧首望之，前有鐵城三重，宮闕嶔峩，在金山之下，火炎漲天，融融勃勃。顧視道傍人物於火燄中，履洋銅融鐵，如蹋濘泥，生之前路可數十步許，如砥而無流金烈火，蓋神力所變爾。至王城，四門豁開，池臺樓觀，一如人間。有二美姝，出拜扶携而入。王戴通天之冠，束文玉之帶，秉珪下階而迎。生俯伏在地，不能仰視。
When he had spoken he took the registers and went in.
Presently there came a jeweled carriage on whirlwind wheels, and a lotus seat was spread above it. Pretty boys and girls in colored robes held whisks and raised parasols, and armed men and patrolmen swung their spears and cried the road clear.
Scholar Bak raised his head and looked. Before him were three rings of iron walls, and a palace stood high beneath a mountain of gold, and flames flooded the sky and blazed and roared. He looked around at the people and the things beside the road, and in the midst of the flames they trod on molten copper and iron as if they were treading in mud. Yet for some dozens of paces on the road before Scholar Bak it was flat as a whetstone, with no running metal and no fierce fire. It was a divine power that had changed it.
When he reached the king's city the four gates stood wide open, and the ponds and terraces and towers were just as they are in the world of men. Two beautiful women came out and bowed, and they held him up and led him in.
The king wore the tongcheon cap (通天冠) and a belt of figured jade, and he held a tablet and came down the steps to meet him. Scholar Bak lay face down on the ground and could not look up.
王曰：「土地殊異，不相統攝，而識理君子，豈可以威勢屈其躬也？」
The king said, "Our lands are different and neither rules the other. How should a gentleman who knows principle be made to bend his body by force and power?"
挽袖而登殿上，別施一床，卽玉欄金床也。坐定，王呼侍者進茶。生側目視之，茶則融銅，果則鐵丸也。生且驚且懼，而不能避，以觀其所爲。進於前，則香茗佳果，馨香芬郁，薰于一殿。
He drew him by the sleeve up onto the hall and set out a separate table for him, a jade rail and a golden couch. When they were seated the king called a servant and had tea brought.
Scholar Bak looked sidelong, and the tea was molten copper and the fruit was iron shot. He was startled and he was afraid, but he could not turn away, and he watched to see what would be done. When it was set before him it was fragrant tea and fine fruit, and the sweet scent filled the whole hall.
茶罷，王語生曰：「士不識此地乎？所謂炎浮洲也。宮之北山，卽沃焦山也。此洲在天之南，故曰南炎浮洲，炎浮者，炎火赫赫，常浮大虛，故稱之云耳。我名燄摩，言爲燄所摩也。爲此土君師，已萬餘載矣。壽久而靈，心之所之，無不神通，志之所欲，無不適意。蒼頡作字，送吾民以哭之，瞿曇成佛，遣吾徒以護之。至於三五周孔，則以道自衛，吾不能側足於其間也。」
When the tea was done the king said to Scholar Bak:
"Do you not know this land, scholar? It is what is called Yeombuju (炎浮洲). The mountain north of the palace is Okchosan (沃焦山). This island lies to the south of heaven, and so it is called Namyeombuju. Yeombu means that the burning fire blazes and blazes and always floats in the great void, and so it is named.
My name is Yama (燄摩), and the characters say that I am rubbed by flame. I have been the ruler and the teacher of this land for more than ten thousand years. My life is long and I am divine. Wherever my heart goes there is nothing it does not reach, and whatever my will desires there is nothing that does not go as I wish.
When Cangjie made letters, I sent my people to wail over it. When Gautama (瞿曇) became a Buddha, I sent my followers to guard him. As for the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors, and the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, they guarded themselves with the Way, and I could not set a foot among them."
生問曰：「周孔瞿曇，何如人也？」
Scholar Bak asked, "What kind of men are the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, and Gautama?"
王曰：「周孔，中華文物中之聖也。瞿曇，西域姦兇中之聖也。文物雖明，人性駁粹，周孔率之。姦兇雖昧，氣有利鈍，瞿曇警之。周孔之敎，以正去邪，瞿曇之法，設邪去邪。以正去邪，故其言正直，以邪去邪，故其言荒誕。正直故君子易從，荒誕故小人易信，其極致，則皆使君子小人，終歸於正理，未嘗惑世誣民，以異道誤之也。」
The king said:
"The Duke of Zhou and Confucius are sages among the culture of the Middle Kingdom. Gautama is a sage among the crafty and the fierce of the Western Regions.
Culture is bright, yet in the nature of men there is the mixed and the pure, and so the Duke of Zhou and Confucius led them. The crafty and the fierce are dark, yet in their breath there is the sharp and the dull, and so Gautama woke them.
The teaching of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius takes away the crooked by the straight. The law of Gautama sets up the crooked to take away the crooked. Taking away the crooked by the straight, its words are upright and plain. Taking away the crooked by the crooked, its words are wild and strange. Being upright and plain, the gentleman follows it easily. Being wild and strange, the small man believes it easily.
At their utmost, both make the gentleman and the small man come home at last to right principle. Neither has ever deluded the age and deceived the people, or led them wrong by a strange way."
生又問曰：「鬼神之說，乃何？」
Scholar Bak asked again, "How is it with the words about ghosts and spirits?"
王曰：「鬼者，陰之靈，神者，陽之靈，蓋造化之迹，而二氣之良能也。生則曰人物，死則曰鬼神，而其理則未嘗異也。」
The king said, "Gwi (鬼) is the spirit of yin (陰), and sin (神) is the spirit of yang (陽). They are the traces of creation, and the good power of the two breaths. Alive, we call them men and things. Dead, we call them ghosts and spirits. But their principle has never been different."
生曰：「世有祭祀鬼神之禮，且祭祀之鬼神，與造化之鬼神，異乎？」
Scholar Bak said, "In the world there is the rite of sacrifice to ghosts and spirits. Are the ghosts and spirits of sacrifice different from the ghosts and spirits of creation?"
曰：「不異也。士豈不見乎？先儒云：‘鬼神無形無聲，然物之終始，無非陰陽合散之所爲。’且祭天地，所以謹陰陽之造化也。祀山川，所以報氣化之升降也。享祖考，所以報本，祀六神，所以免禍，皆使人致其敬也，非有形質以妄加禍福於人間，特人焄蒿悽愴，洋洋如在耳。孔子所謂，敬鬼神而遠之，正謂此也。」
He said:
"They are not different. Have you not seen it, scholar? An earlier Confucian said, 'Ghosts and spirits have no shape and no sound. Yet the ending and beginning of things is nothing but the joining and the scattering of yin and yang.'
Sacrifice to heaven and earth is to be careful of the creation of yin and yang. Sacrifice to mountains and streams is to repay the rising and the falling of the changing breath. The offering to ancestors is to repay the root. Sacrifice to the six spirits is to escape misfortune. All of them make a man complete his reverence. They are not shapes and substances that lay misfortune and blessing on the world of men as they please. It is only that in the incense and the grief of men they seem to be present, brimming and near.
What Confucius said, 'Revere the ghosts and spirits and keep them at a distance,' says just this."
生曰：「世有厲氣妖魅，害人惑物，此亦當言鬼神乎？」
Scholar Bak said, "In the world there are fierce breaths and goblins that harm men and bewitch things. Should these too be called ghosts and spirits?"
王曰：「鬼者，屈也。神者，伸也。屈而伸者，造化之神也。屈而不伸者，乃鬱結之妖也。合造化，故與陰陽終始而無跡，滯鬱結，故混人物寃懟而有形。山之妖曰魈，水之怪曰魊，水石之怪曰龍罔象，木石之怪曰夔魍魎，害物曰厲，惱物曰魔，依物曰妖，惑物曰魅，皆鬼也。陰陽不測之謂神，卽神也。神者，妙用之謂也，鬼者，歸根之謂也。天人一理，顯微無間，歸根曰靜，復命曰常，終始造化，而有不可知其造化之跡，是卽所謂道也。故曰：‘鬼神之德，其盛矣乎！’」
The king said:
"Gwi (鬼) is bending, and sin (神) is stretching. What bends and then stretches is the spirit of creation. What bends and cannot stretch is a monster knotted and clotted.
Joined with creation, it ends and begins with yin and yang and leaves no trace. Blocked in its knotting and clotting, it is mixed into the grudges of men and things and has a shape.
The monster of the mountain is called so (魈). The strange thing of the water is called yeok (魊). The strange thing of water and stone is called yongmangsang (龍罔象). The strange thing of tree and stone is called the goblin (夔魍魎). What harms things is called yeo (厲). What torments things is called ma (魔). What clings to things is called yo (妖). What bewitches things is called mae (魅). All of them are gwi (鬼).
What cannot be fathomed in yin and yang is called sin (神), and that is the spirit. Sin means a wondrous working. Gwi means a going home to the root.
Heaven and man are one principle, and there is no gap between the shown and the hidden. Going home to the root is called stillness. Coming back to the decree is called the constant. It ends and begins creation, and yet the trace of that creation cannot be known. This is what is called the Way (道).
So it is said, 'The power of the ghosts and spirits, how abundant it is!'"
生又問曰：「僕嘗聞於爲佛者之徒，有曰：‘天上有天堂快樂處，地下有地獄苦楚處，列冥([名])府十王，鞠十八獄囚。’有諸？且人死七日之後，供佛設齋以薦其魂，祀王燒錢以贖其罪，姦暴之人，王可寬宥否？」
Scholar Bak asked again:
"I once heard from the followers of the Buddha. They said, 'Above the sky there is a place of pleasure called heaven, and below the earth a place of pain called hell. The ten kings of the offices of the dark world sit there in a row, and they question the prisoners of the eighteen hells.' Is there such a thing?
They also say that seven days after a man dies they make an offering to the Buddha and set out a feast to send his soul on, and that they sacrifice to the kings and burn paper money to redeem his guilt. Can the kings generously pardon a crafty and violent man?"
王驚愕曰：「是非吾所聞。古人曰：‘一陰一陽之謂道，一闢一闔之謂變。生生之謂易，無妄之謂誠。’夫如是，則豈有乾坤之外，復有乾坤，天地之外，更有天地乎？如王者，萬民所歸之名也。三代以上，億兆之主，皆曰王，而無稱異名。如夫子修春秋，立百王不易之大法，尊周室曰天王，則王者之名，不可加也。至秦滅六國一四海，自以爲德兼三皇，功高五帝，乃改王號曰皇帝。當是時，僭竊稱之者頗多，如魏梁荊楚之君，是已。自是以後，王者之名分紛如也，文武成康之尊號，已墜地矣。且流俗無知，以人情相濫，不足道。至於神道則尙嚴，安有一域之內，王者如是其多哉？士豈不聞天無二日國無二王乎？其語不足信也。至於設齋薦魂，祀王燒錢，吾不覺其所爲也。士試詳其世俗之矯妄！」
The king was startled and said:
"This is not what I have heard. A man of old said, 'One yin and one yang is called the Way. One opening and one closing is called change. Living and living again is called the Yi. Being without falsehood is called sincerity.'
If it is so, how should there be another Heaven and Earth outside Heaven and Earth, and another sky and land outside the sky and the land?
King is the name to which the ten thousand people turn. Before the Three Dynasties the lords of the multitude were all called king, and no other name was used. When Confucius put the Spring and Autumn Annals in order, he set up a great law that a hundred kings could not change, and he honored the house of Zhou with the name Heavenly King. The name of king, then, can have nothing added to it.
When Qin destroyed the six states and made the four seas one, it held that its virtue joined the Three Sovereigns and its merit stood higher than the Five Emperors, and so it changed the title of king and called itself emperor. In that time there were many who usurped and stole the name, such as the lords of Wei, Liang, Jing, and Chu.
From then on the name of king fell into disorder, and the honored names of King Wen, King Wu, King Cheng, and King Kang had already fallen to the ground.
The common ways of the world know nothing, and they run over one another by human feeling, and they are not worth speaking of. In the way of the spirits there is still strictness. How should there be so many who are called king within one realm? Have you not heard, scholar, that there are not two suns in the sky and not two kings in a country? Those words are not worth believing.
As for setting out a feast to send on a soul, and sacrificing to kings and burning paper money, I do not understand what they are doing. Try, scholar, to tell me in full the falseness of these ways of the world."
生退席敷袵而陳曰：「世俗當父母死亡七七之日，若尊若卑，不顧喪葬之禮，專以追薦爲務。富者，糜費過度，炫燿人聽，貧者，至於賣田貿宅，貸錢賖穀，鏤紙爲旛，剪綵爲花，招衆▩爲福田，立瓌([壞])像爲導師，唱唄諷誦，鳥鳴鼠喞，曾無意謂。爲喪者，携妻率兒，援類呼朋，男女混雜，矢溺狼籍，使淨土變爲穢溷，寂場變爲鬧市，而又招所謂十王者，備饌以祭之，燒錢以贖之。爲十王者，當不顧禮義，縱貪而濫受之乎？當考其法度，循憲而重罰之乎？此不肖所以憤悱，而不敢忍言也。請爲不肖辨之！」
Scholar Bak drew back from his seat, spread his lapels, and said:
"In the ways of the world, on the forty-ninth day after a father or a mother dies, both the high and the low take no care for the rites of mourning and burial, and they make it their whole work to send the soul on.
The rich spend beyond all measure and dazzle the ears of others. The poor go so far as to sell their fields and sell their houses, to borrow money and buy grain on credit. They cut paper into banners and clip silk into flowers. They call in a crowd of □ and make them a field of blessing, and they set up a clay image and make it a guiding teacher. They chant and they intone, and it is like birds crying and mice squeaking, and there has never been any meaning in it.
The chief mourner brings his wife and leads his children, calls in his kin and calls in his friends. Men and women are mixed together, dung and piss lie everywhere, and the clean ground is made a filthy privy and the quiet hall is made a noisy market.
They also call in the so-called ten kings, set out food and sacrifice to them, and burn paper money to redeem the dead. Would those ten kings take no care for rite and right, loose their greed, and receive it wantonly? Or would they look into their statutes, follow the law, and punish heavily? This is what I, unworthy, have been angry at and could not bring myself to speak. I beg you to sort it out for one so unworthy."
〔One character after "a crowd of" is missing in the base text.〕
王曰：「噫哉！至於此極也？且人之生也，天命之以性，地養之以生，君治之以法，師敎之以道，親育之以恩。由是，五典有序，三綱不紊，順之則祥，逆之則殃，祥與殃在人生受之耳。至於死，則精氣已散，升降還源，那有復留於幽冥之內哉？且寃懟之魂，橫夭之鬼，不得其死，莫宣其氣，嗸嗸於戰場黃沙之域，啾啾於負命啣寃之家者，間或有之，或托巫以致款，或依人以辨懟，雖精神未散於當時，畢竟當歸於無朕。豈有假形於冥地，以受犴獄乎？此格物君子，所當斟酌也。至於齋佛祀王之事，則尤誕矣。且齋者，潔淨之義，所以齋不齋而致其齋也。佛者，淸淨之稱，王者，尊嚴之號。求車求金，貶於春秋，用金用綃，始於漢魏。那有以淸淨之神而享世人供養，以王者之尊而受罪人賄賂，以幽冥之鬼而縱世間刑罰乎？此亦窮理之士，所當商略也。」
The king said:
"Alas, has it come even to this?
When a man is born, Heaven decrees him his nature, Earth nourishes him with life, the ruler governs him with law, the teacher teaches him with the Way, and the parent raises him with kindness. By this the five constants have their order and the three bonds are not tangled. Follow them and there is good fortune. Go against them and there is disaster. Fortune and disaster lie in what a man receives while he lives, and no more.
At death the vital breath has already scattered. It rises and falls and goes back to its source. How should it stay on again within the dark world?
There are indeed such cases now and then. Souls knotted with grudge, and ghosts cut down before their time, who did not find their proper death and could not spread out their breath, murmur in the yellow sand of the battlefield and sob in the houses of those who bore their fate with a grudge in the mouth. Some cling to a shaman to make their earnestness known, and some lean on a man to sort out their grudge. Yet though their spirit did not scatter at the time, in the end it must go back to where there is no trace. How should they borrow a shape in the land of the dead and be shut in a prison? This is what the gentleman who reaches into things should weigh.
As for the feast for the Buddha and the sacrifice to the kings, that is wilder still.
A jae (齋) means to make clean. It is to make clean what is not clean, and so to bring that cleanness about. Buddha is a name for the clear and the clean. King is a title of the high and the stern. To ask for a carriage and to ask for gold was held low in the Spring and Autumn Annals, and the use of gold and silk began in Han and Wei.
How should a clear and clean spirit take the offerings of the men of the world? How should the height of a king take the bribes of a guilty man? How should a ghost of the dark world do as it pleases with the punishments of this world? This too is what a scholar who fathoms principle should think over."
生又問曰：「輪回不已，死此生彼之義，可問否？」
Scholar Bak asked again, "May I ask about the turning of the wheel that does not stop, of dying here and being born there?"
曰：「精靈未散，則似有輪回，然久則散而消耗矣。」
He said, "While the spirit has not scattered, there seems to be a turning of the wheel. But in time it scatters and wastes away."
生曰：「王何故居此異域而爲王者乎？」
Scholar Bak said, "For what reason does the king dwell in this strange realm and rule as its king?"
曰：「我在世，盡忠於王，發憤討賊。乃誓曰：‘死當爲厲鬼，以殺賊！’餘願未殄而忠誠不滅，故托此惡鄕爲君長。今居此地而仰我者，皆前世弑逆姦兇之徒，托生於此，而爲我所制，將格其非心者也。然非正直無私，不能一日爲君長於此地也。寡人聞子正直抗志，在世不屈，眞達人也。而不得一奮其志於當世，使荊璞棄於塵野，明月沉于重淵，不遇良匠，誰知至寶？豈不惜哉？余亦時運已盡，將捐弓劒，子亦命數已窮，當瘞蓬蒿，司牧此邦，非子而誰？」
He said:
"When I was in the world I gave my whole loyalty to my king, and I rose in anger and struck at the rebels. I swore then, 'When I die I shall become a fierce ghost and kill the rebels.' My wish was not spent and my loyalty did not die out, and so I was set in this harsh country and became its ruler.
Those who live in this land now and look up to me are all the crafty and the fierce who killed their rulers and rebelled in a former life. They were born here to be ruled by me, and their wrong hearts are to be set straight.
Yet without being upright and plain and without private ends, a man could not rule this land for a single day.
I hear that you are upright and plain, that you set up your will and did not bend while you were in the world. You are truly a man who has come through. Yet you could not rouse that will even once in your own age. It is as if the jade of Mount Jing were thrown away in a dusty field, or the bright moon sank in a deep pool. If no good craftsman meets it, who will know the utmost treasure? Is it not a pity?
My own turn of fortune is spent, and I shall soon lay down bow and sword. Your own count of days is spent, and you will be buried among the weeds. Who but you shall take this country and govern it?"
乃開宴極歡，問生以三韓興亡之跡。生一一陳之。至高麗創業之由，王歎傷再三曰：「有國者，不可以暴劫民，民雖若瞿瞿以從，內懷悖逆，積日至月，則堅冰之禍起矣。有德者，不可以力進位，天雖不諄諄以語，示以行事，自始至終，而上帝之命嚴矣。蓋國者民之國，命者天之命也。天命已去，民心已離，則雖欲保身，將何爲哉？」
Then he opened a feast and they took their pleasure to the full, and he asked Scholar Bak about the traces of the rise and fall of the Three Han. Scholar Bak set them out one by one.
When he came to how Goryeo founded its state, the king sighed and grieved two or three times and said:
"One who holds a country must not cow the people with violence. The people may seem to follow in fear, but within they hold a rebel heart, and when the days pile up into months the disaster of the hard ice arises.
One who has virtue must not go up to the throne by force. Heaven does not speak to him kindly and at length, but shows him by what it does. From beginning to end the decree of the High Lord is stern.
A country is the people's country, and the decree is Heaven's decree. When the decree of Heaven has gone and the hearts of the people have left, though a man would keep his own body, what shall he do?"
又復敍歷代帝王崇異道致妖祥之事。王便蹙額曰：「民謳謌而水旱至者，是天使人主重以戒謹也。民怨咨而祥瑞現者，是妖媚人主益以驕縱也。且歷代帝王致瑞之日，民其按堵乎？呼寃乎？」
He set out again how the emperors and kings of the ages honored strange ways and drew down weird portents. The king at once knit his brow and said:
"When the people sing and yet flood and drought come, it is Heaven making the lord of men warn himself and take care once more. When the people complain and sigh and yet auspicious signs appear, it is a weird thing flattering the lord of men and making him prouder and more wanton.
And on the days when the emperors and kings of the ages drew down those signs, were the people at ease in their places? Or did they cry out their wrongs?"
曰：「姦臣蜂([逢+虫+虫])起，大亂屢作，而上之人，脅威爲善以釣名，其能安乎？」
He said, "Crafty ministers rose like a swarm of bees and great troubles came again and again, and those above threatened with their awe and made a show of goodness to fish for a name. How could the people be at ease?"
王良久，歎曰：「子之言，是也。」
After a long while the king sighed and said, "Your words are right."
宴畢，王欲禪位于生，乃手制曰：「炎洲之域，實是瘴厲之鄕，禹跡之所不至，穆駿之所未窮。彤雲蔽日，毒霧障天，渴飮赫赫之洋銅，飢餐烘烘之融鐵，非夜叉羅刹，無以措其足，魑魅魍魎，莫能肆其氣。火城千里，鐵嶽萬重，民俗强悍，非正直無以辨其姦，地勢凹隆，非神威不可施其化。咨！爾東國某，正直無私，剛毅有斷，著含章之質，有發蒙之才，顯榮雖蔑於身前，綱紀實在於身後，兆民永賴，非子而誰？宜導德齊禮，冀納民於至善，躬行心得，庶躋世於雍熙。體天立極，法堯禪舜，予其作賓，嗚呼欽哉！」
When the feast was over the king wished to yield his throne to Scholar Bak, and he wrote out the writ with his own hand:
"The realm of Yeomju (炎洲) is truly a country of pestilent and fierce airs. The footsteps of Yu never reached it, and the swift horses of King Mu never came to its end.
Red clouds hide the sun and poisonous fog blocks the sky. The thirsty drink glowing molten copper, and the hungry eat blazing molten iron. None but yakshas and rakshasas can set a foot here, and even goblins and sprites cannot do as they will with their breath.
The city of fire is a thousand li, and the mountains of iron are ten thousand deep. The manners of the people are stubborn and fierce, and without being upright and plain one cannot sort out their craft. The lie of the land is hollow and high, and without a divine awe one cannot spread a teaching over it.
Ah, you, So-and-so of the Eastern Country. You are upright and plain and without private ends, firm and hard and able to decide. You hold the stuff that keeps its brightness within, and you have the gift to open the eyes of the dull. Glory was denied you in your life, but the bonds of order are truly yours after your death. Who but you shall be the long stay of the multitude of the people?
Lead them with virtue and make them even with rite, and hope to bring the people into the utmost good. Walk it yourself and win it in your heart, and raise the age to harmony and brightness. Take Heaven for your body and set up the utmost. Follow the model of Yao, who yielded to Shun. I shall be your guest. Ah, be reverent!"
生奉詔，周旋再拜而出。王復勑臣民致賀，以儲君禮送之。又勑生曰：「不久當還，勞此一行，所陳之語，傳播人間，一掃荒唐！」
Scholar Bak received the writ, turned about, bowed twice, and went out. The king again ordered his officials and his people to give congratulation, and sent him off with the rites due a crown prince.
He also charged Scholar Bak, "Before long you will come back. Take the trouble of this one journey. Spread the words that were set out here through the world of men, and sweep away their wild talk once and for all."
生又再拜致謝曰：「敢不對揚休命之萬一？」
Scholar Bak bowed twice again and gave thanks, and said, "How should I not answer and carry abroad one part in ten thousand of your fair command?"
旣出門，挽車者，蹉跌覆轍，生仆地驚起而覺，乃一夢也。開目視之，書冊抛床，燈花明滅。生感訝良久，自念將死，日以處置家事爲懷。數月有疾，料必不起，却毉巫而逝。其將化之夕，夢神人告於四鄰曰：「汝鄰家某公，將爲閻羅王者」云。
As he went out the gate, the one who drew the carriage stumbled and the carriage turned over. Scholar Bak fell to the ground, started up in fright, and woke. It had been a dream.
He opened his eyes and looked. His books were flung on the couch, and the flower of the lamp flared and died.
Scholar Bak was moved and amazed for a long while. He thought to himself that he would soon die, and day by day he set his mind on putting the affairs of his house in order. Some months later he fell ill. He reckoned that he would surely not rise again, and he sent away the physician and the shaman and died.
On the evening he was to pass, a divine man appeared in the dreams of the four neighboring houses and told them, "Such-and-such a gentleman of your neighborhood is to become King Yama (閻羅)."